Health insurance literacy and health service utilization among college students

Tyler G. James, Meagan K. Sullivan, Leanne Dumeny, Katherine Lindsey, Jee Won Cheong, Guy Nicolette

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Health literacy and health insurance literacy affect healthcare utilization. The purpose of this study was to determine the relation between health insurance knowledge, self-efficacy, and student healthcare utilization in the past year. Participants: A random sample of 1,450 respondents, over the age of 18, attending a public university in the southeastern United States completed a survey in March 2017. Methods: A model was constructed to test the effect of health insurance self-efficacy on the relation between knowledge and healthcare utilization in the past year. Results: Health insurance knowledge (M = 5.8, range 0–10) and self-efficacy (M = 2.48, range 1–4) were low. Self-efficacy was a significant moderator when explaining healthcare utilization in the past year. Conclusions: College students have low knowledge and self-efficacy regarding health insurance. These findings can be used for developing policies and self-efficacy-based health education programs that may increase student healthcare utilization.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)200-206
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of American College Health
Volume68
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 17 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • College health
  • health insurance knowledge
  • health insurance literacy
  • health insurance self-efficacy
  • healthcare utilization

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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